Rate My Professor Bryan Henderson

Bryan Henderson is an Associate Professor of Science Education at Arizona State University, holding joint appointments in the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation and the Department of Physics. He received his Ph.D. in Science Education from Stanford University in 2013. Earlier, he earned an M.S. in Physics and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Adult Learners in 2008, and an M.S. in Education in 2006, all from Portland State University. Henderson holds three undergraduate degrees from the University of Washington, conferred in 2004: B.S. in Physics, B.S. in Astronomy, and B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Applied Mathematics. His academic career includes serving as Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences at ASU from 2014 to 2020, prior to his promotion. Previously, he was a Lecturer at Stanford University from 2013 to 2014, Assessment Specialist at Lawrence Hall of Science from 2013 to 2014, and held graduate research and teaching assistant positions at Stanford from 2009 to 2013 and Portland State University from 2005 to 2008. He also taught physics at Portland Community College from 2007 to 2008 and conducted undergraduate research in astrophysics at the University of Washington, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe.

Henderson's research specializes in using educational technology to promote critical peer-to-peer science learning, with a focus on evidence-based scientific argumentation. As director of the Braincandy project, he develops cloud-based platforms that allow anonymous student contributions and visualize cognitive discrepancies to spark authentic classroom discussions. His Science Dialogue Heuristic supports oral argumentation, enabling students to construct deeper understandings through iterative refinement. Notable publications include the book Arguing from Evidence in Middle School Science: 24 Activities for Productive Talk and Deeper Learning (Corwin, 2016, with J. Osborne et al.), the article The development and validation of a learning progression for argumentation in science (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2016, 456 citations), Key challenges and future directions for educational research on scientific argumentation (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2018, 171 citations), and The past, present, and future of clickers: A review (Education Sciences, 2024). He has been honored with the 2018 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship ($70,000), 2016 ASU Centennial Professorship Award ($10,000 total), 2023 Professor of Impact Award, and was a finalist for the NARST 2015 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. Henderson serves as Principal Investigator on a $3 million NSF collaborative grant with UC Berkeley and has contributed to invited talks on scientific argumentation and educational technology.